Two Mice and a Hamster
by MythicElf
Summary: He was hoping to get a smile for that one, even a watery little half-smile, but Nikola just glares at him, grey-blue eyes blazing. "He killed two mice and a hamster using my research." And Howard squints a little, because while he's all for classroom competition that's just a little harsh.


A/N: Yeah… I've gone here. While everyone else is pitting Tony and Howard against one another over Steve, my Howard is shacked up with Nikola Tesla because he's cool. Literally shacked up. In a dorm room. Because they're in college. Because I couldn't be assed to research how life was in their time enough to write a decent tale.

I'm lazy like that.

But, yeah, I had to write this because THOMAS EDISON IS A WORTHLESS DOUCHEBAG. Plus it gives Nikoward a purpose :3 Enjoy.

…

Howard Stark isn't really disturbed by many things.

It's a fact he's proud of, that he can take many situations that would bother a lesser man and stare them down before taking them apart with the precision of a surgeon. There's not much he can't handle.

But the sight of Nikola, all-out fuming, pacing back and forth across the room, growling and muttering in broken Croatian and spewing random bits that had to be curses… this disturbs him.

He wants to help, but he doesn't know how, doesn't even know what's going on, because he _can't_ _understand him_. So, for the umpteenth time in the four minutes and twenty-seve—eight seconds since his roommate had returned, he asks softly, "Nik…?"

"_Što_?!" the man snarls at him, and the glare he shoots at Howard could probably level the entire football team and half the basketball team at once. But he's really just happy he's finally been recognized. Plus, he at least knows what that one means.

"What's wrong…?" and it's a totally understated question, but for all the intelligence he has and uses elsewhere, it's all he can think of.

It looks like it takes quite a bit of effort to speak in English again, and when Nikola finally does, it's heavily accented, even more so than normal. "T-Thomas, he… my thesis… my research… my _work…"_ he stops, buries his face in his hands, muttering again, and Howard's not sure _what_ language it's in. Tesla does know quite a few of them.

"Thomas?" he runs through a mental list of the handful of Thomases he knows, filters through the ones Nik would have encountered today. "Edison?"

"_Da je govno."_

Yep. Edison.

He tilts his head, concern flickering across his brow. "Okay, what happened, then?"

"My entire thesis. It's nothing now, it's garbage, I—" he breaks off when his voice cracks, and Howard vaguely notes that he's never seen the other so close to tears.

"It's brilliant. Don't be ridiculous. I learned shit from that paper when I read it, and you know how hard that is."

He was hoping to get a smile for that one, even a watery little half-smile, but Nikola just glares at him, grey-blue eyes blazing. "He killed two mice and a hamster using my research."

And Howard squints a little, because while he's all for classroom competition that's just a little harsh.

"He rewired a light socket, fried the little thing in seconds…" the fight's gone out of him, and he sags against the desk by his hip, propping an elbow on the monitor on top of it and rubbing his temple in grieved circles. "I knew my formulas could make the voltage possible, but I didn't mean to recreate the electric chair…"

"Bet the bastard feels pretty smug right now." It's more of an observation than anything, a side note to himself. He didn't even mean to say it aloud, really.

But Nikola's deep sigh is enough to make him feel bad for it. "Probably."

"Aw, Nik…" so he goes closer, putting his arms around his roommate's waist and kissing him soundly, not pulling back until he relaxes in his arms, surrenders himself to the embrace. "Fuck Edison. Fuck his stupid light bulb and his dead hamster. You're still a genius, electric chair or not."

This time, Howard does get a drowned little smile, and he feels proud of himself for it. "It was a light socket."

A shrug. "Whatever."

And later that night, after everything's gone dark and Nik's all curled up and sleeping soundly in Howard's bed, he's standing at his window, looking across the moonlit parking lot with his cell phone pressed to his ear. "Hey, Marie? Got any more of that radioactive junk? …. Good. Do me a favor, put some in Edison's gas tank."

…

Yes. Yes, I went there. Congratulations, Thomas, you just got a gas tank full of Marie Curie's A+ from last semester.

_Što:_ what

_Da je govno: _piece of shit


End file.
